You will be surprised why you didn't do it earlier. You can expect a
dramatic improvement in soldering quality and less retouches, and
clening is easier, to boot. However, there are prices to pay, as you
will discover (e.g., time from soldering to cleaning should be truly
minimal).

Do NOT use a saponifier. If you feel you must "kill" the low pH, use a
chelating neutraliser or "rinsing aid" such as Lonco 2051. This is an
economical, highly buffered, solution with a pH much lower than a
saponifier and has numerous advantages:
- kills acidity
- solubilises heavy metal salts
- can act as hold bath between soldering and cleaning (esp. useful for
hand soldering)
- can reduce foaming in prewash
- improves ionic contamination
- produces shinier solder joints.

All the major flux makers make good products for foaming. The most
popular ones in the past have been Lonco 3355-11 and Alpha 857. These
are quite agressive. I don't know whether it is still available but the
Lonco 3355-ST was a modified version of -11, without dye, less
aggressive and giving better SIR. It has a different vehicle system.

I did the changeover in 1965 and have never regretted it!

Brian

Charles Caswell wrote:
> I am looking at changing from RMA to a WS flux for wave solder and
> possibly hand solder..  Just wondering if anyone has recommendations
> they could share offline. I would like to narrow down the number of
> possibles to try.
> Some considerations
> Foam fluxer, changing this is not an option at this time.
> In line aqueous cleaning. With or without saponifier.
> Prefer water based but not a major consideration.
>
> Charles Caswell
> The Big Kahuna
>
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